Fin plate for radiator cores



y 1967 M. L. JENTET 3,319,711

FIN PLATE FOR RADIATOR CORES Filed June 22, 1964 Pic-3.1.

INVENTOR MAXINE. L- JENTET United States Patent 3,319,711 FIN PLATE FOR RADIATOR CORES Maximo Louis .lentet, Chatou, Seine-et-Oise, France, as-

signoito Societe Anouyme des Usines Chausson, Asnieres, France, a French company Filed June 22, 1964, Ser. No. 376,697 Claims priority, application France, June 28, 1963, 939,857, Patent 1,386,229 1 Claim. (Cl. 165-151) In the cores of cooling radiators utilizing flat fins slipped on to the circulation tubes of the cooling liquid, provision is generally made for struts or spacers intended to space out the fins, i.e., to keep a constant distance between successive fins, more particularly at the moment when tubes are fitted into the fins. In the known methods for forming said struts or spacers, rectangular lugs are cut in each fin and these lugs are turned down perpendicularly to the plane of the fin so as to ensure by abutment of the following fin, a spacing equal to the length of the lug. To prevent these lugs coming opposite to the lug of the following fin when the fins are piled, the piling direction of successive fins must be alternated.

This necessity considerably complicates the manufacturing of radiator cores, and also another disadvantage resulting therefrom is that the alternation of successive fins simultaneously reverses the punching of the passage holes for tubes provided in the films, which has the elfect of opposing manufacturing tolerances and hence creating difiiculties for engaging the tubes.

To obviate these disadvantages, it has been proposed in Italian patent specification 441,178 to cut and punch, in the fins between the tube passages, trapezoidal lugs which are folded or bent around their small base and bear by their large base on the following fin when piling. This arrangement is necessary to prevent lugs from penetrating into the cuts of the contiguous fin.

Although this latter method of embodiment is greatly utilised, it has been noticed that it also has drawbacks, for the strutted lugs or spacers thus cut have the disadvantage of lowering the eificiency, or more exactly, the mean temperature of the fin, owing to the bad heat transmission existing between the flat parts of the fin and the cut point, which is only connected to this fiat part by its small base. Actually, the out and turned-down spacer forms an elementary fin whose length is generally greater than the half-space separating two tubes of the core and this elementary fin has, on this account, points situated at a greater distance from the tube than any other part of the fin. The thermal output of the fin varying in the inverse sense of its length, it follows from the foregoing that the part of the fin forming the spacer operates in distinctly less favourable conditions than the remainder of the fin. This defect is still further accentuated by the trapezoidal shape of the spacer, seeing that the large base is that which is farthest from the tube whose heat must be dissipated, and that thus the part of the spacer that is coldest is that which has the greatest surface.

Another disadvantage, from the aerodynamic standpoint, is due to the fact that the turned-over part of the spacer does not retain its flatness at the moment when it is shaped by punching; this part of the spacer which is perpendicular to the fin thus causes, by its curvature, an increased resistance to the passage of the air, which is unfavourable for the proper working of the radiator on a vehicle.

The present invention obviates the disadvantages mentioned above by creating a new fin plate provided with spacers and whose thermal etficiency is considerably improved.

According to the invention, the fin plate for cooling radiators, comprising spacers for keeping all the fins of a radiator core at a constant distance apart is characterised in that the spacers are defined in the fins by a cut which is made between the tube passages provided in said fin, this cut defining at least one lug whose height is equal to the space which must separate two contiguous fins, said lug appreciably having the shape of a trapezoid whose large base is integral with the tin, whereas the small base forms the bearing surface for a contiguous fin, one of the sides of the lug being defined by an oblique part of the cut so that the small base is at least partly olfset in relation to the large base to prevent any penetration of the points into the cuts of contiguous fins.

Various other characteristics of the invention will moreover he revealed by the detailed description which follows.

Forms of execution of the invention are shown, by way of non-restrictive examples, in the attached drawing.

FIGURE 1 is a partial plane view of a fin plate according to the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a partial diagrammatical elevation-section of a radiator core whose fins are cut along the line IIII of FIG. 1.

FIGURE 3 is a plane view on a large scale, showing the particular embodiment of the spacer of the invention.

FIGURE 4 is a section along the line IVIV of FIG. 3.

FIGURE 5 is a plane View similar to FIG. 3, of an alternative.

FIGURE 6 is a section along the line VIVI of FIG. 5.

FIGURE 7 is a plane view similar to FIGS. 3 and 5 of a second alternative.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 denotes cooling fin plates and 2 the passages cut in these fins for tubes 3.

The various fins 1 must obviously be separated from each other by a uniform regular distance; this is obtained by the lugs or spacers which are described hereafter.

FIG. 3 shows how these spacers are formed. A cut is made in each fin, between consecutive tube passages 2, so shaped as to define a segment having a rectilinear part 4 perpendicular to the leading edge 5 of the fin; this cut is prolonged by an oblique part 6, then by a part 7, also perpendicular to the leading edge 5 and finally by a second oblique part 8.

The cut assembly thus defines a narrow tongue 9 prolonged by a lug 10 whose width 1 corresponds to the distance that must separate two contiguous fins. The tongue 9 lug 10 assembly is bent after making the cut around the line 11 at the long side of its enlarged base or tongue 9 to take up the position shown at 12 in dotted lines. The rectilinear part 4 of the cut extends, as shown in FIG. 1, half way between the two consecutive tube passages 2. In this manner, the narrowest part of the point, i.e., the flange 9, prolonged as far as its intersection with the edge defined by the oblique part 8 of the cut, operates thermally in the same way as the flat part of the fin, i.e., more particularly the parts denoted by the reference numerals 13 and 14, whereas only that part of the lug 10 forming a spacer, shown with dotted hatchings, contacting the adjacent plate at its outer end 15 operates thermally with a lower output; nevertheless, the output, even for this part, is improved as compared with that of known constructions up till now, for the base of the point denoted by a is larger than the end denoted by a which affords a better passage for the calories that must be dissipated.

As also shown in FIG. 3, seeing that the part 8 of the cut extends obliquely, this means that the spacing lug 10, when raised, partly extends above the solid part of the fin, this part being denoted by 15 in FIG. 3. Thus, it is not necessary to alternate the cuts in successive fins to be utilised in making a radiator core, seeing that the actual shape of the lugs means that they make spacers that do not risk penetrating into a cut or slot of a fin placed immediately above or immediately below.

To still further improve the thermal output of fins, i.e., more particularly to reduce the surface of that part of the spacer with the least favourable output, one proceeds as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. According to these figures, the part 4 of the cut is always made in the middle part of the space separating two contiguous tubes and this part of the cut 4 is prolonged at both ends by opposed oblique parts 6, 6a, which are themselves prolonged by rectilinear cut parts 7 7 connecting to the oblique cuts 8 8 Thus, two tongues 9a, 9b and two spacing lugs 10 10 are defined, after the two lugs have been raised, as shown in FIG. 6. The dotted hatched parts of the spacing lugs with the poorest thermal outputs show that their surfaces are slight, and moreover, that in the example according to FIG. 3, the large base a being of appreciably greater length than the small base a the caloric transport takes place in good conditions. Furthermore, the spacer being double, the spacing of successive fins occurs on two points, which enables the length of the bases a a to be reduced, and consequently considerably to limit the surface with a relatively slight thermal output.

A second alternative is shown in FIG. 7, according to which the spacer is made with only one lug 10 offset and of trapezoidal shape whose large base defines the fold 11 integral with the fin. This latter embodiment corresponds to an alternative of FIG. 3 and can also be combined with the method of construction given by the embodiment according to FIG. 5, if it is desirable, for symmetry reasons, to utilise a double spacer.

The invention is not restricted to the examples of embodiment, shown and described in detail, for various modifications can be applied to it without going outside of its scope.

I claim:

In a cooling radiator assembly which includes a plurality of fluid conduit tubes arranged in a pattern in spaced apart relation to one another, the assembly including stacked, substantially parallel, spaced apart plate members with openings therein in said pattern which admit the tubes therethrough, improved spacing means for the plates comprising: i i

a plurality of spacers bent outwardly from the adjacent plate members, the spacers being secured to the plate members from which they are bent along fold portions thereof;

each spacer comprising a lug having a maximum height substantially equal to the desired spacing of the plates;

the spacers of each plate extending in the same direction;

the spacers each being of multi-sided form and including an elongated base, having a long side fixedly joined to the adjacent plate at the fold portion thereof;

an oblique portion connected to each base and having an outer side substantially parallel to the long side and contacting the adjacent plate member;

each plate having an opening formed therein comprising the section from which the spacers are bent outwardly;

the spacers being in complementary pairs formed from the same opening;

the spacers of each pair being located on opposite sides of said openings and the respective fold portions thereof being substantially parallel and on the opposing sides of the openings; and

the oblique portions of each pair of spacers being oppositely directed and being oflset from said openings to thereby prevent any penetration of the outer sides into or through adjacent plate openings.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,430,631 11/1947 Eskra 182 X 3,182,481 5/1965 Oddy et al 113-118 X FOREIGN PATENTS 215,124 5/1961 Austria.

236,342 1 1/1961 Australia.

236,342 11/1960 Great Britain.

441,178 10/1948 Italy.

ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner.

A. W. DAVIS, Assistant Examiner. 

